Winemaker Notes
#36 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2014
Deep plum/ruby/purple-colored to the edge, it offers notes of boysenberries, mulberries and a hint of raspberries. The site’s minerality is well-positioned in the full-bodied flavors which continue the blue fruit invasion, so to speak, but with more forest floor and composty notes, and a complex, northern Cote de Nuits Vosne-Romanee or Morey-St.-Denis personality expressed in the gorgeous fruit.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2009 Pinot Noir Marcassin Vineyard is a gorgeous, clearly California version of a grand cru from Burgundy, such as Clos Saint-Denis or Clos de la Roche. This deep plum/garnet-colored wine offers intense berry fruit along with forest floor, spice box, earth and loads of plum, cherry and strawberry notes, moving toward darker fruits, as well as earthy, autumnal, foresty scents. The wine is full-bodied, with great intensity, sweet tannins and good acidity.
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Wine Spectator
Amazingly seductive, from the initial aromas of smoky, toasty, creamy vanilla-scented oak to the richer mix of wild berry and raspberry fruit. Lifts midpalate and soars from there, finishing with a pleasing tannic grip and a long, persistent finish. Drink now through 2025.
The Sonoma Coast AVA is large in area but, not counting overlapping regions like Russian River Valley, only has a few thousand acres of grapevines—and it’s no wonder. Much of the region is rugged and not easily accessible. Its proximity to the Pacific Ocean’s fog and cool breezes limits the varieties that can be cultivated, but it proves to be an ideal environment for high quality Pinot Noir.
Since fog is a frequent fact of life here, as are heavy marine layers that sometimes bring rain, the best vineyards are wisely planted above the fog line, on picturesque ridges that capture enough sun to provide even ripening. That, with the overnight drop in temperature that reliably preserves acidity, results in fine expressions of Pinot Noir that often receive tremendous critic and consumer praise alike, and are often in high demand.